Information networks, e.g. the Internet (or more particularly the World Wide Web hosted thereon), facilitate delivery of content from content providers to content recipients. A publisher may provide content for display at a client device, e.g., on a web page or as streaming media. Presentation of the content may include text, video, audio, an interactive element, and/or any combination thereof. The presentation may include content from multiple content providers. A person viewing a web page rendered by a client device may see content from multiple providers in a single web page or during a single web browsing session.
Generally, a person viewing content experiences some amount of delay between when the content is requested and when viewing begins. The delay can be caused by many different factors such as delays in processing a content request at a content host server, constraints in a communication channel, and rendering delays at the client device. If the delay is sufficiently bad, users may curtail a viewing session. Generally, a content provider can provision resource improvements to reduce the delay, e.g., by adding additional host servers or enhancing communication channels. However, the content provider needs to provision the right resource improvements. Users may also curtail a viewing session for reasons other than delay, e.g., a lack of desirable content. In such situations, a content provider may prefer to invest in better content instead of investing in better infrastructure.